Column: Resilient Armwood back in familiar surroundings

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Leon McQuay III and Jarvis McCall did return interceptions for scores in the first quarter, and Eric Striker most definitely had two sacks, and Matt Jones absolutely caught a perfectly thrown 80-yard touchdown pass from Alvin Bailey.

And the score was, without a doubt: Armwood High 40, Miami Central 31.

You won’t find that 2011 state football final anywhere on the Florida High School Athletic Association’s website.

It has been expunged, doesn’t count, never happened.

Except that it did.

But you know what feels like never happened?

The punishment.

Oh sure, between the two teams —Central was penalized for playing an ineligible quarterback — there were 39 forfeited games over two seasons. Armwood had to return its runnerup trophy from 2010 and its championship trophy from 2011, and Central gave back its runnerup trophy from 2011.

But good luck finding any bruises on either program.

Or, for that matter, anyone on either squad who thinks the Game that Never Happened …never happened.

On Saturday, the teams meet again in the Citrus Bowl for the Class 6A state championship, and both see it as a rematch of a game that was.

“There is (satisfaction to be back),’’ Armwood coach Sean Callahan said. “There’s still a lot of animosity and anger, sure. But we’re back here and with only one kid committed to a Division I school. Our schedule wasn’t that tough, but the playoffs have been very tough. Next year, we’ll be even better. We’re just doing the same thing I’ve always done. I guess people can hate Armwood because we win, but we’re back. Though really, it’s not like we ever left.”

Only Kyle Gibson and Greg Newton remain from that 2011 team, if you’re counting guys who actually played in the game. The rest still flout championship rings and probably have their gold medals hanging somewhere in their bedrooms.

The FHSAA couldn’t take those away.

In June 2012, the FHSAA stripped Armwood of its title and all of 15 wins from 2011, as well as 11 from the previous season for playing ineligible players. In August 2012, the FHSAA did the same to Central.

Callahan had to paint over the 2011 on the Armwood billboard that lists the other years the Hawks were champions (2003 and 2004). But he never believed in what he was doing.

It led to his darkest time as a head coach. It threatened to break the Hawks, but instead seemed to strengthen them. The experience added another layer to an already defiant program.

Hawks against the World.

In what he says was his toughest year ever coaching — and he’s been doing it 24 years — Callahan guided Armwood to a 9-4 record and a berth in region semifinals last year.

Those eager to write the program off had to quickly put away their paper and pens.

“We heard all kinds of stuff. That I was going to quit at some point, that Armwood football would dissolve to nothing,’’ Callahan said.

Armwood couldn’t win with the kids in the hall, folks said, and the new, stringent county-wide transfer rules — brought on by the

Armwood investigation — would clip the Hawks’ wings for good.

“We heard all that,’’ said Callahan, “then we went out last year and went 9-4 and it all kind of quieted down.’’

Now the last sounds of the 2013 football season will be made by the Hawks, Tampa Bay’s last team standing. They will be trying, officially, for their third state championship.